Fifty-nine years later, and having survived many critical crises, UMNO is still here, relevant and strong as ever. For the past three years, UMNO has undergone a renewal of sorts, with the introduction of two new wings – Puteri and Putera – targeting specifically the younger set.

“Give me ten youths,” roared Sukarno, “and I will shake the world!” His was the metaphor for the idealism of youth. Time and age however, have a way of tempering and weakening that youthful idealism.

This does not necessarily have to be. Neither time nor age should diminish one's struggle to create a just world. Nonetheless, UMNO's leaders must admit to what is obvious to all, that the organization risks losing its vigor and purpose. There are some, leaders as well as followers, who still aspire to the lofty and noble goals articulated through the poetry of their President, Abdullah Badawi. He exhorted them to emulate past intellectual giants of Islam, men like Imam Shafie and Imam Ghazali, although I must say that names like Shafi’e and Al-Ghazali are not exactly associated with my idea of progressive thought!

Abdullah wants UMNO to re-invigorate its struggle for the Malay race. The question is how. Merely delivering fiery speeches and endless exhortations would not do it. Nor would ceaseless counseling and endless appeals would do it! Neither would the sobbing pleas by its leaders during the General Assembly have an impact! Similar difficulties await the eradication of the twin scourges of “money politics” and corruption that have been plaguing UMNO and indeed the entire nation for the past two or three decades.

Thirty years ago the stern advice was simply, “Do not take or give bribes!” Now with corruption entrenched in our culture, it is, “Don’t be stupid! If you do not grab the loot yourself, others will! It might as well be you!” Today corruption threatens the very survival of our society and nation.

We deride our village folks for being lazy and lacking initiative, but when our youths try to better themselves, we destroy their spirit by denying them the opportunities. Of those who tried, only a few succeeded; the lucky few with the right connections. The rest will fail precisely for lack of this “special” relationship.

Our youths have nowhere to turn. They are poorly educated, and their parents being simple village folks do not know how to seek help. The number of these disenfranchised youths, their parents, and siblings continues has been growing for the past thirty years. They pose a formidable threat to social stability. They could destroy our society unless something is done urgently to change the situation.

The remedy lies less with endless speechifying, sermonizing or supplication, rather through effective planning. We must provide them with effective guidance and exemplary models in order to effect such changes. Have we even started that process?

We must cleanse and reform UMNO through deeds and actions, not words. We are not without a model or guidance. We can seek inspiration from the Holy Quran and through the exemplary successes of the early years of Islam, during the era of our prophet s.a.w. and the generations immediately following. We can also learn from the emancipation of the great civilizations of Europe, Japan and China. The commonality to all those successes is the citizens’ abiding faith in the human condition, and their reverence for knowledge and science. What propelled the Arabs to be the leading nation in their era was the trinity of faith, knowledge and effort. Those too are the secrets of other successful civilizations. UMNO’s leaders and its three million members, as well as our intellectuals and ordinary citizens, ought to heed this.

Let us review the efforts of UMNO to change the state of affairs of Malays for the past forty years. We have had “Mental Revolution,” “The New Malay,” Islamization, and the nurturing of “glorious values.” We have yet to assess their effectiveness. If we have been even marginally successful, that would be reward enough. Are Malay leaders, specifically UMNO leaders, willing to sit down for a few days to analyze thoroughly those failures? Instead of wasting their time in idle talk, organizing endless seminars or worse, resorting to the old familiar blame game, it would be far better for them to devote a few days or even months to seek diligently solutions to the pressing issues threatening the future of our race. Too often, the preoccupation at those endless seminars is merely to rake over the same old issues that are then quickly forgotten.

UMNO leaders – indeed all leaders – and our intellectuals must surely be aware of the dangers confronting us. They must plan and execute a strategy to overcome them.

About Me

(About Kassim Ahmad
By: M. Bakri Musa)
Kassim Ahmad is Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher. He grabbed national headlines in the 1950s with his dissertation on the characters of Hang Tuah (Perwatakan Hang Tuah), the Malay literary classic. In it he challenged the traditional interpretation and made the hitherto hero Hang Tuah as nothing more than a palace hack, and elevated the anti-hero Hang Jebat as the true hero, willing to kill even the sultan in defence of honor and principles.
Kassim was jailed for nearly five years under the ISA for daring to express openly his political views, an experience which he recounted in his book, Universiti Kedua (Second University).
Kassim again shook the Malay world with his "Hadith: A Re-Examination" in which he challenges the infallibility of the purported words of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Except for an honorary doctorate in Letters conferred by the National University of Malaysia, the country has not seen fit to honor this great public intellectual.
June 2005